The Browncoats

[b][u][i]History[/i][/u][/b] 4-5 years ago, I joined a Bungie.net group called Ancient Warriors. At the time they had 100+ members and were growing. They appeared to be the ideal group... adults, mature environment, mutual respect, everyone loved Halo, yada yada. It immediately became apparent at the flaws with the group. Despite having accounts set up with member gamertags and numerous members, very few were willing to step outside their comfort zone. I added numerous members to my friend list, but rarely got invites to join them. Whenever I did manage to get inside a party and we had room for others, it was like pulling teeth to get people to be proactive and invite members that were online. If I was a "leader" of a group, it would be common sense to me to try and bring in other members to make them feel like part of the group as well as get a chance to game and know them. Needless to say, I voiced my concerns and was essentially labeled a "complainer". Halo Reach was a disappointment to many. Halo 4 a disappointment to others. There was a lot of inactivity among the leadership. The founder had personal issues and many of the staff were rarely, if ever, heard from. Nobody from leadership was willing to step up and organize anything and they had a rule that anything organized had to be run through them. Bungie also decided to make a lot of unpopular changes to the way their forum and groups worked, which prompted a move to a new site. Not everyone made the move whether due to browser issues or just not wanting to join another website. The founder found some time to start gaming again and posted his disappointment in not being invited to games anymore. All I could think was, "Oh, the irony." Eventually some additions were made to leadership. It became extremely evident what was going on. Everyone active in leadership as well as those promoted were all from "the clique"... leadership and the players they frequently gamed with. Then the new consoles came along. That prompted a lot of discussions about which console and games everyone was going to get. One of the leaders frequently kept referring to games as, "The game that will bring the AWs back together." I disagreed and pointed out that he said the same thing about Defiance, Battlefield 4, and then Titanfall. I also disagreed with a lot of the reviews many stated about games, and needless to say... I was pretty much right about the games not lasting in popularity very long. Another leader was brought aboard who's job it was to type up a "newsletter" which would be posted in a section at the top of the forum. He wrote his first newsletter and everything was fine. He then created a thread stating another newsletter was coming. I jokingly made a posting saying something to the extent of, "Now we're getting newsletters about newsletters." One leader apparently didn't get my sense of humor and snapped at me stating it was a placeholder. I then rebutted stating a placeholder was unnecessary since the last thread created in that section of the forum was his last newsletter and that the admins were the only one to create threads in that section... not to mention what would be the point of editing a post people already commented in when people tend to read news posts and ignore it after the thread is marked as "read" already. Needless to say, the thread was eventually removed... and I was kicked from the Ancient Warriors for having a "negative attitude". Apparently, I aim to misbehave... and thus The Browncoats were formed. The Browncoats started off as just me and some other accounts that I created during the Beta. You needed 4 "clan members" in order for your clan name to appear in the Destiny Beta. So I created the clan and added 3 other email addresses from 3 old temporary gamertags used to store custom maps from Halo 3. Before the end of the Beta, MRIh74 (an Ancient Warrior) joined me and I removed one of my temp accounts. Gunfighter57 (XxNUADAxX) and Falais (both Ancient Warriors), whom MRIh74 and I frequently fire teamed with in the Beta joined and I was able to remove another temp account. Vampire Nox (former Ancient Warrior) came along and found a new home. He found a voice he didn't feel he had in the AWs. Legion is all was one of our first official recruits and has been one of our most active members. The Browncoats officially became a legitimate clan at that point. [b][i][u]About Us[/u][/i][/b] - We are a clan of semi-mature adults. Maturity is often debatable and an age can't be tied to it, but we're trying to provide an environment for adults who have actually held jobs or have families and can relate to each other... who understand having responsibilities. We have tied an age of 30+, but that can be flexible on a case by case basis. The important thing is respect for each other and their opinions, even if it differs from yours. - We are all Xbox One players. The point of this clan is to find adults to game together with. We can't all game together if we don't all own the same console. That doesn't mean we can't game together on the 360, but the main point was to play Destiny together on Xbox One. - We are primarily Eastern US. The reason for this is simple... getting together to play with each other. It just makes it easier if we're on similar schedules. It also makes it easier to schedule an event. That's not to say we won't accept people from other time zones, as long as they have no problem with the time difference and possible limited time to game together with majority of the members. - We intend to stay small. We can always expand later. I think it's important to start off small, build a foundation, then move forward later. The more people, the more differences. The more differences, the more problems. Bigger isn't always better. In the case of clans, bigger usually results in more cliques... and thus more disconnection with everyone else. - There is no leadership. We are all adults and should be able to come to a decision together. We may not always agree with it, but then again how many of us agreed on the last tax increase? If a decision must be made, then I'll make one. - There really aren't any rules. I'd like to think that because we are adults, we all have some common sense. Take swearing for instance. I'm sure most of us swear. There is a time and place for it. It's not necessary for it to take up 25% of the words out of your mouth unless you're getting chewed up by the other team. Use common sense and realize not everyone likes hearing swear words often in regular discussions (*respect for each other and their opinions) - If you want to plan an event, do so. You don't need my approval to have fun with other members of the clan. I encourage anything that brings you closer to other members. - This is a casual group, but many of us are competitive at heart. I'm sure all of us will enjoy exploring, doing strikes, and raid frequently with each other. There are also many of us who enjoy being competitive in PvP. I'm hoping that we can fulfill the PvE as well as PvP needs of our members. Just remember that good gear will be important in PvP... and much of that can be found in PvE. Likewise, many good items can be had only by playing PvP via The Crucible and Faction gear. Try to keep both in mind. - There are no character class requirements. It's silly to tell you how to play. Play however you want. Learn. Share. - There is no attendance requirement nor posting requirement. We're all adults and have other responsibilities, but since we're adults... at least let us know if you won't be around for a while or at least let us know a bit about you. - Share your secrets. Clans are about cooperation. If you find something, share it with others in the group. For example, the locations of the golden chests... and if things are similar to the Beta, great farming locations like the one we found. - Mics and headsets should be mandatory. Heck the console came with one. It's hard to coordinate if we can't talk with each other. I feel that it's important especially with raids that we let each other know if something is coming towards them or let others know if you need help. - Get out of your comfort zone. If you see other members playing alone, send them an invite. It's the whole point of being in the clan... to explore and find things together. At the same time, respect their privacy. If they have the same game as you loaded up, invite them. If they're doing something else, send them a message to see if they're interested... but don't send them a game invite and party request when they're not even in the game and watching videos. I don't know about you guys, but I don't even have my headset plugged in if I'm watching videos. - In the end, we look out for ours... and ours alone. - Have fun and relax. Since the original posting of this, many have moved on from Destiny. We still have some people who play and will play. Many of us have moved on to play Elder Scrolls Online or other games. If you're interested, in our clan, play Destiny, or play ESO and are a member of the Ebonhart Pack... we'd love for you to message us and introduce yourself to any of the members labelled as leadership. Thanks for taking the time to read. Hopefully, you found a home that you can be proud of... MaxSterling (Founder) [u][b]Recruitment threads[/b][/u] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/504760bd1678460abcc89e5f5e1ad7a1/topics/the-browncoats/2a71300b-8679-490f-9d08-02222fafcc38/posts?page=1]Halo Waypoint Company Recruitment[/url]